A brave new LAN

Friday

Feb 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Gamers find a better way to hook up and hang out when they are slaying virtual zombies or fighting animated military battles.

For serious fans of multi-player computer games, connecting with other players through the Internet or via wireless hook-ups just doesn’t cut it when they try to slay virtual zombies or fight animated military battles.

So, instead, a growing number of devotees gather in computer stores and other sites to create their own hard-wired networks to speed up and intensify the gaming experience.

The systems they create are called LANs, or Local Area Networks, and they use the set-ups to play interactive games at a high level and develop friendships along the way.

At a recent LAN party, about 25 men and women ranging in age from 18 to their late 40s gathered at the Bradenton office of Best Choice Software to jam in a 14-hour marathon session in multi-player games like “Left 4 Dead” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”

Drawn by a desire to escape into a virtual game, they brought personal computers ranging in size from laptops to large custom-built machines made especially for gaming.

Although wireless networking works for many interactive gamers — who use wireless to link up and play from home — main organizer Gary Rudy of Sarasota said hard-wiring computers into a network is the best way to go for multiplayer gaming.

“For gaming you’re much better with hard-wire because you don’t get as much lag; it’s a more solid connection,” said Rudy, 48. “People want to share videos and game demos, and when you transfer files the best wireless in the world can’t compete.”

Moreover, members of the group SLAGG (Sarasota Linux and Gaming Group) say they enjoy the social aspects of the gaming groups.

One person mentioned that one regular player was not going to show up because he was with his girlfriend in Orlando.

Player Eric Maupin pretended to be shocked. “He’s got a girlfriend?” Maupin said. “He needs to get his priorities straight.”

Between gaming sessions, the players talk, share tips and snack on doughnuts, soft drinks and pizza.

The social aspect of the LAN party drew Lydia Dumais, 19, a New College history major.

“Games are very, very social,” she said. “It’s an enjoyable way to spend time with people.”

She sat next to her boyfriend, Jason Spafford, and played on a laptop decorated in a ’60s “flower-power” style.

“This actually was one of our first dates,” she said. “It was really enjoyable. And this is a pretty good group of guys, a really fun group.”

Spafford, 18, of Bradenton, is a programmer at Best Choice Software, which makes software to analyze the stock market.

The communal aspect of the LAN parties is important, he said.

“While we do go home and play games on our computers, once a month we come out and talk to each other,” he said.

In one computer game, a horde of zombies gathered for an assault as the four players left to defend humanity prepared for battle.

Rearmed and revitalized, they staked out positions in the devastated landscape. When the battle was joined, the players fought off the zombies as a team, calling out warnings, advice and some good-natured complaints about friendly fire.

The four members of SLAGG were using their networked computers to play characters in “Left 4 Dead,” a first-person shooting game set in a city after a virus has turned people into zombies.

Rudy said he was not interested in computer games until “Doom II” was released in 1994.

“Immediately, I was just blown away, along with thousands and thousands of other people,” he said. “Doom II was the game that kind of put PC gaming on the map.”

Chris Haag, 30, of Sarasota, said he likes the convivial aspect of the multiplayer games.

“You do it with friends, you do it with strangers,” he said. “You have, like, 32 people in a game. It’s very unpredictable and lots of fun.”

For Charlie Andrews, 27, the LAN parties are more about escaping the cares of the day.

His regular job is in Manatee County’s planning department, and his interest in planning began when he played “SimCity 2000” on a computer, a game that allows players to create their own society.

He rejects the notion of computer gaming as being anti-social.

“I think it all comes down to a balance,” he said. “I think if you have some games – like, I’ll allocate eight hours to do what you need to do, then go out and hike the trails.”

After that, though, it is back to saving humanity from the horde of zombies.

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